Meetings don't have to suck
Most meetings suck, but they don’t have to. I’ve found what makes them suck is a lack of focus and balance. No one knows what the goal is (focus), and one or two voices take all the oxygen in the room or everyone is pointlessly forced to speak, even if they have nothing to say (balance).
I’m a trained facilitator. I don’t pretend I’m a particularly good one. But it turns out you don’t have to be particularly good to totally transform meetings. Most meetings at work suck, so an ounce of facilitation does wonders and wows a crowd. I facilitated for the first time in ages last week (thanks COVID), and it’s had me reflecting on what makes it useful and fun.
It gives a meeting purpose. The mere presence of a facilitator means someone is asking the leadership in the room, “So, what’s the goal of this meeting?” Surprisingly, most meetings are called without anyone actually considering that.
It gives everyone a chance to be haptic. Handling markers and Post-its and interacting with a whiteboard or big sheets of paper engages people. It gets them out of their seats. You can’t nod off if you are standing up and walking around the room.
It gives everyone a voice. During the idea generation phase of most facilitations, I make sure we have a quiet period and a discussion period. We share ideas one at a time and we share them in response to each other. I ask people to read others’ ideas and their own. Everyone gets a chance to share, whatever their communication style or comfort level may be.
If you have an important meeting coming up that you are afraid may suck—or a routine meeting that always sucks—consider finding a facilitator.